


left in the ashes

by fallcnstar



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Endgame Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Evil!Josie, F/F, Minor Landon Kirby/Hope Mikaelson, Post season 2 episode 12, Protective Hope Mikaelson, dark!josie, heretic!lizzie, like only at the start
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:20:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22603126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallcnstar/pseuds/fallcnstar
Summary: Scrambling, she made her way to one of the mirrors in the bathroom. Her mouth fell open as she saw her jet black hair. Even some of her veins were black. It was exactly like her vision -- don’t let it break. Why would she have ever let it break then?in which Hope is willing to do anything to get Josie back, not knowing Josie is falling into the darkness and with it, slowly losing herself.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Milton "MG" Greasley/Lizzie Saltzman, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 111





	1. loss

Hope Mikaelson had dealt with a lot of things -- gargoyles, dragons, even a unicorn -- but losing her two best friends and mentor figure? Hope wasn’t a stranger to loss, she had lost her parents at fifteen, but that didn’t mean she was willing to give up on her best friends.

In the last couple of days, Hope had been solely focusing on getting them back. While the destruction of the ascendant had been a bit of a complication, she had managed to fix it. Now, all she needed was Bennett blood and a celestial event, but Bonnie was on the other side of the world and Josie and Lizzie had used the last of the stash of Bennett blood when they created another prison world. That would be a much bigger complication than Alyssa’s pathetic antics with the ascendant.

A knock startled her out of her thoughts and before she could answer, the door opened. She tried to stifle a sigh as she watched Landon enter her room. While she claimed to love him, Hope couldn’t help the flicker of annoyance every time he interrupted her when she was busy working.

A small smile appeared on Landon’s face as he sat down on the ground next to her, careful not to bump into any candles. “How are you doing?”

“What do you think, Landon?” Hope snapped, regret washing over her as soon as the words left her mouth. “I’m sorry, it’s just that with everything going on and Jo gone…”

“And Lizzie.”

Furrowing her brows, Hope looked up at the boy in front of her. He wore an unfamiliar expression before breaking eye contact with her. “What?”

“Nevermind,” he waved it off. “Do you think we’ll be able to get them out soon?”

“Honestly?” Hope looked down at the ascendant, cold to the touch and air of magic surrounding it. Biting her lip, she tried not to let her thoughts stray. “I have no clue. The next celestial event is nearly a week away -- who knows what could happen within that week. Not to mention that without Bennett blood, we won’t even be able to enter.”

“Oh.” Landon stayed quiet for a while then, instead he watched Hope scan through one of the school’s grimoires. It didn’t take much longer before he spoke up again, “If there’s not anything we can do, perhaps we could take a break and--” “Take a break?” Hope’s head shot up as she stared at him with wide eyes. “Just because we hit a wall, doesn’t mean we should just quit. Though I suppose you’re right in a way, there’s nothing you can do, so perhaps you should take a break and leave me alone.”

“Hope, that’s not what I--”

Again, Hope interrupted, “Just leave Landon, it’s what you do best.”

His mouth closed and opened, but no words seemed to come to him. In the end, he accepted his defeat and left the room. Hope tried to pretend not to notice the sad look he gave her before he left.

Sighing, Hope turned back to the ascendant. She was willing to do anything and sacrifice everything to get them out.

Without a warning this time, her door flew open and she was surprised to see Kaleb standing there. “Hope, there’s something you might want to see.”

⚜️

Josie was used to a splitting headache after partying with her sister -- she tried to drink less, but it certainly didn’t work after the break-up with Penelope or after said girl left -- but the one she had right now, was even worse. She would never complain again about her hangover, not when she could compare it to this. She didn’t even have a clue how it had happened, she hadn’t been partying with her sister last night, had she?

With a groan, she placed her hand against her forehead. This kind of headache wasn’t normal, that she knew for sure.

When she opened her eyes, the headache only seemed to worsen. Squinting her eyes, she tried to adjust to the bright light. As her eyes finally adjusted, she noticed she was in a bar -- so, it might be a normal headache. She was probably worrying about nothing.

But how was it that she was lying on the ground at the bar? Why was no one making any comments about-- There was no one there. She was all by herself, not to mention that it was abnormally quiet.

A gasp escaped her lips as her memories came back to her. The Mora Miserium -- it was lying in pieces right next to her. The prison world. Someone dangerous. Her father in danger and Lizzie’s disappearance.

Lowering her hand, Josie couldn’t help but notice how pale her skin looked. She wondered if it was a side effect of the Mora Miserium breaking… another gasp left her as she remembered her vision.

Scrambling, she made her way to one of the mirrors in the bathroom. Her mouth fell open as she saw her jet black hair. Even some of her veins were black. It was exactly like her vision -- _don’t let it break_. Why would she have ever let it break then?

Rubbing her temple, she let out a groan as no such memory came back to her. She vaguely remembered smashing it, but nothing else.

As she let out a sigh, she made the decision to get out of the bar and find her family, but she had no idea who she should even be looking for first. They could both take care of themselves, Josie knew that, but it didn’t stop her from worrying.

Despite her father possibly being in more of a danger than Lizzie, Josie still decided to find her sister. Lizzie and Sebastian had disappeared without a trace from the Salvatore School and even though it could just be that it meant they were having a romantic time together, something still made Josie’s stomach turn when she thought about Lizzie.

While she stumbled her way out of the bar -- the headache still hurting -- she tried to come up with an idea on how to find her sister. From what Josie had heard about him, Sebastian would most likely try to impress Lizzie, charm her, in the old fashioned way as the guy was about 500 years old.

As she thought about it, something else resurfaced in her mind. A flash of familiar blue eyes, a wicked smile, a taunting voice -- _you have to become a monster… like me._

Josie let out a cry as her headache increased with the return of the memory. Falling to her knees, she noticed the veins in her hand growing darker. “What…”

She felt her magic growing, flowing to the tips of her fingers. A bloodcurdling scream left her mouth and with it, part of her magic. Instead of feeling trapped, she felt free and like she was on a rush, just like the times she used the black magic Clarke had taught her. Part of her knew it was wrong, but her whole body was filled with it -- what else could she do but give in?

As soon as the magic was gone, the rush was as well and it only left her lightheaded. She tried to stand up again, but it was of no use as she fell back to the ground once again. With her skin against the pavement, she enjoyed the cold touch and let herself sink into the darkness.

_When Josie opened her eyes again, the first thing she noticed was the darkness. It wasn’t even night, yet the trees cast such long shadows that it looked like it was._

_With carefully placed steps, she made her way through the forest. She had no clue on where she was headed, but something was pulling her towards the edge of the forest._

_The closer she got, the more she noticed two spots of light growing. The set of headlights shone right at her, causing Josie to narrow her eyes. Holding her hand in front of her, she tried to block out the light._

_With how close she was, she could now see it was a crashed car. Who would possibly crash their car in the prison world, where nothing and no one could run you of the road? Had the person been drinking? But even then, the kids her father had sent here were too busy with revenge to drive a car._

_She felt sick to the stomach as she realized her last option -- Lizzie. No, she wouldn’t believe that. Perhaps her mind had been able to travel outside of the prison world and someone else had just crashed the car. That made a lot more sense, right?_

_But she knew that was a very small chance._ _Before she had released her magic, she had been thinking about finding Lizzie and that may have just been what her magic did._

_With every step she took, the feeling grew worse. A gasp escaped her lips as she saw her sister limp in the car. Blood had dripped from the girl’s nose and her eyes were closed. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be dead. No, she wouldn’t let her sister die._

_As she tried to make herself wake up again, do anything to get to her sister faster, her eyes met a pair of cold ones. Sebastian._

⚜️

Hope had no idea what she was expecting when she had followed Kaleb out of her room. A guy in a fancy suit definitely wasn’t it. She supposed she would’ve been less surprised if it had been another monster.

“Who the hell are you?” At the sound of her voice, the guy turned away from the pictures he had been staring at -- family photos of the Saltzmans, something Hope would rather not look at it for it only reminded her of her failure.

“Oh, hello,” said the guy, giving a cheery wave, yet the happy glint was missing in his eyes. “I asked to speak to the one in charge -- are you the one in charge? You look like a kid.”

“Miss Tig, Mr Williams and Dr Saltzman are currently unavailable, so yes, I am. You got a problem with that…?” She waited for the man to give his name -- the tactic usually worked -- but he didn’t comment on it.

Hope narrowed her eyes at the guy in front of her before scanning her surroundings. Apart from her, Kaleb and the guy, there were also MG and Landon watching the scene. If it came down to a fight, they could get the upper hand -- as long as Landon stayed out of the way. They didn’t need him dying again.

“Oh, right, of course, my condolences. Anyways, Caroline--”

“Condolences?” Hope asked, raising her eyebrows. “Dr Saltzman isn’t dead.”

The guy kept talking as if Hope hadn’t even interrupted him -- it pissed her off if she was being honest. Alaric wasn't dead, Lizzie wasn't dead, _Josie_ wasn't dead. “Caroline asked me to look after the school now that Alaric is ‘unavailable’.”

A grin appeared on the man’s face as he extended his hand. With narrowed eyes, Hope accepted it, if only for appearances. If Caroline really had sent him here, Hope would need to respect the Headmistress’ decision and in doing so, respect this man in front of her.

“You can call me Kai.”

“Hope,” she answered, faking a smile.

“Great, now that that’s settled. Let’s get started, huh?”


	2. prison worlds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope continues her search and receives help from a familiar witch while Josie tries to find her sister.

_ Lizzie was hurt and a bloodthirsty vampire was with her. _

That thought kept going around Josie’s mind as she made her way out of Mystic Falls. Before she had woken up, she had seen the  _ Welcome to Mystic Falls _ sign, so it wouldn’t take her long to reach her sister.

Yet her sister was still in danger -- what if she wasn’t there on time? What if Sebastian managed to get out of the car and his thirst for blood was too much for him?

No, her sister believed Sebastian was a good guy -- sure, a bit of a bad boy attitude, but Lizzie had insisted he meant her no harm. However, their father had thought he had to be locked up here with killers. Jade, Wendy, Diego and… there had been someone else, right?

  
Josie shook her head, it didn’t matter. Lizzie was in danger and she couldn’t do anything about it.

As she was about to break into a run, she felt her magic growing stronger. Coming to a stop, she noticed her veins darkening just like last time. A part of her was scared as the dark magic felt compelling, pulling her in. What if she couldn’t stop herself from fully giving in?

Before she could dwell on that thought, she felt herself being pulled in a certain direction. Her feet were swept off the ground and on instinct, she closed her eyes. Bracing herself for what was coming, she waited.

Once she opened her eyes again, she was surprised to be looking at the welcome sign. Releasing her breath, she looked down at her hands. Her dark veins had mostly disappeared, but she could still feel the magic flowing through her.

“Thank you,” she whispered before taking her eyes off her hands.

Turning away from the sign, she looked around. A gasp escaped her lips as her eyes fell on the crashed car a little down the road.

The closer she got, she noticed there was someone standing outside of the car. Had one of the former students found Lizzie first?

“Sebastian.” Once his name came out of her mouth, he turned around in a blink of an eye. His eyes were bloodshot and Josie was certain she could see part of his fangs. “Get away from her!”

The wind began blowing harder, causing locks of her black hair to fall in front of her eyes. Her heartbeat picked up as she stared at the guy in front of her.

When he didn’t listen, Josie repeated, “Get away from her!”

Before he could make his decision, the wind blew him backwards. He landed against the car, groaning. Once the wind had slowed down, he dared to lift his head. Josie could see the dark veins under his eyes and his fangs were even more clear than before.

With his vampire speed, he appeared right in front of her. However before he could try to feed on her or whatever he had been planning to do, Josie held up her hand. Without even muttering the spell, his blood began to boil.

Now that she had his full attention, she told him, “Go away and don’t come back.”

Snapping her fingers, she released him from the spell and waited for him to leave, crossing her arms in front of her chest. He tilted his head slightly as he gave her a once over, like he was debating if he could take her on. 

In the end, he took a step back with his hands in the air. A chuckle left his lips before he disappeared into thin air.

She didn’t even bother checking if he was really gone as she was already running towards the car. Even if Sebastian was gone, Josie was certain he would still be able to hear her rapid heartbeat.

As she opened the car door, the first thing she noticed was how pale Lizzie looked. She had thought she had looked pale when she woke up at the bar, but Lizzie was completely different shade. Her sister’s skin was nearly gray.

“Lizzie?” Kneeling down next to her twin, Josie placed her hand over Lizzie’s. She barely managed to suppress a shiver once she felt Lizzie’s cold hand. Wrapping her fingers around the girl’s wrist, she searched for a heartbeat, but she could find none.

“No,” she whispered, resting her head against the car as tears streamed down her face. “Please, Lizzie, wake up.”

The silence that followed her plead was worse than anything she had ever heard. Lizzie was gone and there was nothing she could do, not even with these newfound powers of hers.

⚜️

As soon as Kai had asked for a tour, Hope had seen her chance of escaping and took it. She had kindly explained him that she hadn’t been back here in a while and that she had no idea if some things were changed. So, she had let Landon do the tour instead, who gladly took the opportunity to prove he wasn’t useless.

Now that she was alone once again, she decided to focus on the main problem again. She still had no chance of getting the three Saltzmans out anytime soon, but that didn’t mean there was none.

The door to her room swung open, causing Hope’s head to snap up. Instead of Landon, who she had been expecting, MG was standing there with his phone in his hands and a smile on his face.

Sighing, she placed the ascendant back in its box. “MG?”

“I’ve got someone on the phone that you might want to speak with.” Without waiting for an answer, MG walked into the room to hand her the phone. “Kaleb and I did some asking around and managed to get you a phone call with the one and only Bonnie Bennett.”

“What?” Hope asked, unsure if she had heard it right. Standing up, she accepted the phone. “Bonnie Bennett?”

MG nodded before gesturing to the phone. “She’s probably listening.”

Those words were enough to bring Hope back to reality as she looked down at the phone. She could see the call had been going on for a couple of minutes already -- MG must’ve already talked to her.

She suddenly began to feel nervous as she had no idea what to say to her. What had MG already talked to her about? Not to mention that it was Bonnie Bennett on the line. Hope had heard stories about the witch from her family -- how Bonnie Bennett had nearly even taken down her own father, the Original Hybrid -- but had never actually spoken to her.

Clearing her throat, she raised the phone to her ear. “Hi, Miss Bennett.”

“Bonnie’s just fine,” came the answer from the other line. The woman’s voice was gentle and it was unlike anything Hope had been expecting. “Your friend explained to me that there was a problem with the prison world?”

“Yeah, there is,” Hope admitted. “Dr Saltzman, Lizzie and Josie were both sent there, but we have no way of getting them out. They’re in danger, I can feel it.”

It was silent on the other side of the call for a while until Bonnie responded, “I’m currently in Europe with Caroline, but we’ll take the next flight.”

“Are you sure Caroline will come? Her substitute headmaster, or whatever, just arrived.”

Hope could hear two voices discuss something at the other side and she was certain something was wrong. “It’s Hope, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Caroline didn’t send anyone, Hope, so be careful about whoever just showed up and don’t do anything dangerous. We’ll be there soon.”

Before Hope could react, Bonnie hung up on her. Lowering the phone, she looked at her friend. Even though MG was acting nonchalant, she knew he had been listening to the call.

“You heard that, right?” Hope asked, not bothering to wait for his answer as she continued on. “Let’s have a talk with this ‘Kai’, shall we?”

“Hope, Miss Bennett asked us not to do anything dangerous,” he protested, his eyes wide. Despite his protests, he still followed her out of the room.

“It’s not dangerous when I know how to take care of myself.”

⚜️

Josie had no idea about how long she had been sitting next to her sister -- the sun had already set and it was so dark, Josie could barely see anything. The ground felt cold beneath her and normally, she would’ve been worried about catching the cold. This time it was different though, she felt completely nothing.

The longer she sat there, the more her magic began to grow. It had been feeding on her grief, but now that she was numb, it reached its peak. Josie wondered how long it would take until it would become too much again.

The last time it had happened at exactly the right moment, but who knew how long that would keep happening. She had read enough books to know that messing with dark magic only ever ended in heartbreak and loss.

A gasp shook her out of her thoughts and without warning, Lizzie’s hand was gone from Josie’s grip. Josie’s head whipped around, staring at her sister’s body, which was sitting upright. What kind of sick trick was this and what kind of person would even think of doing that?

Normally, she would’ve never thought anyone would do such a thing, but this was the prison world. Even if her father had made a mistake, he had thought these people were so bad that they deserved to be here.

Looking around, she tried to see if she could see Wendy. That girl could be the only one that did this, aside from… 

Shaking her head, she turned back to her sister. What if this was her own dark magic doing this? It had fed on her grief and perhaps had noticed how much she missed her sister. But even then, she had no experience in necromancy.

“Jo?” Lizzie’s voice sounded like it hadn’t been used in ages, yet it was still so familiar. “What…”

“Lizzie?” Josie asked, her eyes wide open. “How are you… You were dead.”

Lizzie was quiet for a while, her eyebrows furrowed as she seemed lost in thought. “Sebastian--he fed me his--I’m a… no.”

A sob escaped Lizzie as she wrapped her arms around Josie, who was still too in shock to do anything except lean into her sister’s embrace. “Lizzie, what happened?”

Once Lizzie managed to calm down, she leaned away from Josie. Pain was clear in her eyes as she told her, “Sebastian wanted me to turn, so he fed me his blood. I’m a vampire... I’ll never be able to grow up or have kids, Jo.”

This time, Josie hugged her sister as she was on the verge of breaking down again. Her heart ached for Lizzie as she realized what this meant -- even though, Lizzie had never really thought much about having kids, Josie knew her sister would want to keep all her options open, but Sebastian took that choice away from her the minute he fed her his blood.

“I’m so sorry.” Josie pulled away to look her sister in the eyes. “Did he crash the car?”

Lizzie shook her head, but regretted it as soons as she did. Putting her hand against her head, she told Josie, “No, I was driving. It was something else…”

Frowning, she waited for her sister to answer. However, Lizzie remained quiet, instead of answering, she stared off into the distance.

“Lizzie?”

“It was something dark,” Lizzie admitted, turning back to her sister. “I think it was dark magic… wait. Jo, did the sand clock break? Josie?”

Josie was too shocked to answer as she realized what had caused the accident. She had thought Sebastian had ruined Lizzie’s life, but it was her. Lizzie had always known when Josie used dark magic, her sister always felt it, so of course she had felt the blast of dark magic from the Mora Miserium that knocked Josie out. It was Josie’s fault that Lizzie was a vampire, she had ruined her sister’s life.


End file.
